Lecture 1 - What is Science? A Science of politics
Comparative Politics - POLS 3311
2024-03-17
what is science?
Applying science to human behavior
More on the comparative method
Good Scientific questions
Politics main concern isn’t necessarily the welfare of the people. Why do I emphasize this?
- You can't assume the state is representative of all the people or even cares about "the people's interests" - not every state is a democracy and not every democracy functions properly
- You can't assume the state or political actors are benevolent
- If we want to analyze how the world works, we can't start with bad assumptions
- We may be concerned with the welfare of the people, but assuming others always are is bad scienceScientific questions - will cover today
Positive not normative
Based on physical proof that can be empirically tested
About explaining the world as it is
Not based on ideas about what “should be”
Define a research question
Make predictions - hypothesis
Gather data
+ Experiments
+ Observations Analyze the data to test the hypothesis
Draw conclusions
Falsifiability - testing the hypothesis
Types of research
Experiment - random assignment, manipulation, control and treatment group
Observational
+ Case study (single case, n = 1)
+ Comparative (small-n, can be large-n)
+ Statisticial (large-n)Non-scientific questions:
+ Did the decision repealing Roe v Wade violate rights? (Political Philosophy - POLS 3310, 3349, 4344)
+ Was this case properly decided legally? (Law - POLS 3356,3357)
+ Is there a right to abortion in the Constitution? (Law - POLS 3356,3357)
+ When does life begin? (Philosopy/Theology - PHIL 1301, PHIL3351)
+ Should Samuel Alito be impeached? (American politics/Constitutional Law - POLS 3364,3356)
+ Should Harry Blackmun be canonized? (Theology - Check with the appopriate church)
Good scientific questions
About cause and effect
+ "Does X cause Y?"
+ "What causes Y?"
+ NOT "What is the value of Y?" - just measurementShould be measurable
It should be specific at least as to the outcome (Y, dependent variable)
“Why” questions are most interesting: “Why do different countries adopt a different policy with regard to Y?”
Good scientific question:
Does the gender of litigators (lawyers) affect judicial decisions?
Write a research question
- What topic are you interested in?
- What is the dependent variable? The "Y"? The outcome?
- Do you have an idea about the independent variable? The "X"? The cause?
- I am here to answer your questions
- Would anyone like to volunteer to walk through the process? *extra credit and you can leave when you're done*Author: Tom Hanna
Website: tomhanna.me
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>
POLS3311, Spring 2024, Instructor: Tom Hanna